Announcement from MEJA on Leadership Changes
Students, parents, teachers, and friends came together to found the Massachusetts Education Justice Alliance in 2015 at a dark time for public education. Corporate privatizers were coming for our communities’ public schools. Generations of students — especially low-income students, immigrants and students of color — were suffering in underfunded schools, with no end in sight. Public college students trying to stay afloat were burdened with crushing debt, while public college workers took on more and more responsibility for less and less pay.
We have not won all of these fights. But by fighting together, we have won so much.
MEJA brought together hundreds of organizations, unions, and community groups to fight to Save Our Public Schools and vote No on 2 in 2016. We defeated the push to allow unlimited charter school growth to destroy public education as we know it. We won big, by 62% to 38%.
MEJA brought those organizations together again to fight back against the Trump/DeVos administration and defend public schools and colleges from corporate vultures.
MEJA hired Charlotte Kelly as our Executive Director in 2018 and built coalition tables in seven regions of the state to advocate for equitable resources and democratic control of our schools. MEJA hired local parents and community organizers to lead these battles.
MEJA pulled together our coalition once again to demand that we Fund Our Future by ensuring the promise of our K-12 public schools and demanding that our lawmakers cherish our public higher education system. We fought hard. We rallied, called, wrote letters, took over the State House, and made it clear that “no” was not an answer. Once again, we fought and we won! The biggest piece of education legislation in Massachusetts in 25 years, the Student Opportunity Act, phased in over seven years, will bring $1.5 billion per year in new aid to K-12 public schools. The resources will be focused on the students and educators who need these resources the most after decades of neglect.
As MEJA’s first Executive Director, Charlotte has led these battles. Her dedication to inclusive, anti-racist, grassroots organizing has led us to victory without compromising the principles of racial and economic justice. She has consistently fought to lift up the voices of communities of color and youth, show up for folks in need, and redistribute our resources to serve those who are closest to the pain. Charlotte led the charge in our fight to win the Fund Our Future Campaign, keeping our organizations coordinated while training and supervising our local coalition table coordinators, building new relationships and partnerships, and tackling the inherent challenges of coalition building.
Charlotte has done the work of many on a shoestring. She has reinvigorated a statewide movement for education justice that will reshape how Massachusetts values and supports our public schools and colleges for generations.
Charlotte will step down from the role of MEJA Executive Director at the end of this year. MEJA plans an intentional hiring search to start the next phase of our work. With the pandemic crisis and economic collapse, our public schools and colleges face massive challenges as dangerous as the ones we first came together to fight.
Watch here for more information about our search for a new executive director and a job description.
And please take a moment right now to support MEJA’s ability to continue this important work through this important transition and beyond. Donate today to invest in MEJA’s future!
Charlotte laid a strong foundation. Now we are committed to bringing on board a new leader who will hit the ground running. The new leadership team will need your support and the resources necessary to escalate the fight for education justice in every corner of the Commonwealth.
Whether or not you can give today, thank you for everything you’ve done to support MEJA and our public schools, from kindergarten through college!
In Solidarity,
Lisa Guisbond
President, MEJA